Tim’s journey
Tim Thorlby is the Director of Beautiful Enterprise
I provide research and consultancy support to public services, charities and enterprises. I have an unusual breadth of experience having worked in the public sector and also led charities, busineses and helped to found and grow a successful, award-winning social enterprise.
The golden thread through my career is that I enjoy using my skills in research, analysis and management to help build good, purposeful organisations that make the world a better place.
I have spent much of my career in the private sector, in business and consultancy, but have also led charities and worked in local government.
I helped to found, shape and then lead Clean for Good, an award winning ethical office cleaning company for London, now B-Corp certified.
As Managing Director for four years (2018-2022) I helped to turn an unlikely idea, which originated in a City of London church, into a ground-breaking company that has set new standards for fair pay and dignified work in one of the toughest sectors in the UK economy. It has grown to nearly £1m turnover and even makes a (modest) profit. In 2021, we won a national Living Wage Champions award. Previously, we were twice named in the NatWest/Pioneers Post SE100 Index and as a Top25 Trailblazer, as one of the fastest growing social busineses in the UK.
Previously, I was the Development Director at the Centre for Theology & Community, a charity based in east London which promotes church-based community organising with Citizens UK. I contributed to management, led the development of a pilot Housing Bond, which raised nearly £1m of social investment, and authored numerous applied research reports.
Before that, I worked for nearly 15 years in a couple of consultancies, including EDAW (now Aecom) and SQW Consulting, where I was a director and Head of Operations until 2011. I helped to run the business and also led the design and delivery of a wide range of applied socio-economic research and strategy development projects, including some major national projects for central government.
My career began in the 1990s with a brief spell in local government, working on urban regneration projects and urban planning, and I remain a chartered town planner.
Most recently, I have been Director of the Jubilee Centre, based in Cambridge, a national ‘think and do’ tank which brings biblical insight to bear on public life. During 2021-22 I was asked to refocus the Centre’s mission to explore how faith applies to business in the UK, to renew the charity and secure its future. Although the renewal did not ultimately succeed in overcoming the charity’s longstanding financial challenges, our team delivered some original and pioneering research and thinking and we road-tested our first Learning Labs. The Centre continues its journey today online.
I remain convinced that social injustice should be challenged and that we don’t have to settle for the status quo. I continue to work to promote good business, social justice and a faithful church.
Always hope.